No character in literature is more relatable to me than Holden Caulfield. I remember reading The Catcher In The Rye when I was 16 during my sophomore year of high school. September of 2012 to be exact. Who is Holden? He’s a semi-spoiled brat who observes people and their behaviors more than he interacts with them. That last sentence is the critical element of this article. Oftentimes you see people who are either way too spoiled, or not given anything. But have you ever met anyone who is semi-spoiled? These are the kinds of people who can relate with people from all walks of life. They know what being entitled is, and know they are entitled whereas the kids who are really spoiled have no clue at how entitled they are. The kids who were never spoiled always worked hard, but never really had big dreams outside of escaping poverty. Spoiled kids like the non-spoiled kids have no dreams per se, but rather just want equilibrium.
Semi-spoiled kids have what I like to coin as the “Holden Caulfield Complex.” This is a crippling mental illness where the entire life of a semi-spoiled kid has been built on knowing what being spoiled feels like and having only the minimum of it. Let me give you an example. I was 12 years old and this girl I went to school with came in with an iPhone. This is 2008 mind you. I also wanted a phone so I asked my dad for a phone. He gave me a shitty flip phone. I wanted an iPhone. This example I gave is the basis for this mental illness. It usually affects upper-middle kids whose parents combined income before tax is about 130K-200K. Basically, it’s keeping up with the Jones’s on steroids.
A semi-spoiled brat is someone who gets what they want, but the MINIMUM of what they want. An example is wanting an iPhone but getting a flip phone instead. A full-blown spoiled brat and a poor kid always have their stimulation needs satisfied. A semi-spoiled brat lives a life where he observes more than he interacts, so it’s a half no and a half yes. And does everything in his power to turn a no into a yes.
Semi-spoiled brats and I mean all of them grow up to become observers. Why? It comes down to a VOID. Semi-spoiled kids are left with the void of thinking about what COULD have been if they would have gotten the MAXIMUM of what they wanted. This void of not getting MAXIMUM STIMULATION from their demands is what turns them into Holden Caulfields. It causes them to live vicariously through others and act out irrationally.
The poor and the outright spoiled don’t have to think about filling this VOID that comes from minimum spoilage.
Anyone with this complex has the makings of a sociopath, rapist, and murderer. Yes, the spoiled and the poor also kill. But it’s easier to get people with the VOID in them to do these things as seeking the maximum stimulation eventually becomes their end game. The Holden types will rather work a miserable job, than a normal job. Their entire life mission is to either be a billionaire or a bust. The normal middle-income life is detestable to them on the grounds that it doesn’t provide the MAXIMUM stimulation they would get by being a billionaire.
Basically, it’s like this Holden type is someone who wants to find a pump and dump stock instead of going the long haul. The long haul isn’t enough to satisfy his stimulation needs the way a pump and dump would.
What truly is the purpose of this article? To give you insight into why this book has inspired many people to become just downright evil.
On a side night. My web3 company is inspired by this book.
Another sidenote. The Catcher In The Rye will become a huge theme in the Metaverse. So far we have only discovered 15% of the internet. With the Metaverse, we will probably discover about another 20%.